Trailer Review: ‘Suicide Squad’ breathes new life into a tired song

I thought that, in 2016, it was impossible to use Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” in any kind of new or interesting way, but whoever cut together the new trailer for “Suicide Squad” was somehow able to breathe new life into a great but incredibly tired song.

I have no idea if I’m actually going to see “Suicide Squad” — comic book movie fatigue, ya know? — but even as just a two-and-a-half minute work, this trailer is pretty great, and it does a brilliant job of manipulating the Queen song — a full cinematic work in itself — so that it doesn’t actually steal the spotlight away from its stars.

The trailer begins with shots of its main characters along with lyrics that underscore their unbalanced mental states. We see a lot of Will Smith and Margot Robbie throughout, but while Smith plays what seems like a pretty standard tough dude unfamiliar to comics fans, Robbie nails the fucked-up whimsy of Harley Quinn. Her grin as she’s joking (or being completely serious) about the voices her in head is priceless. Meanwhile, there’s also a crocodile, a girl possessed by a witch and a bunch of white dudes who look vaguely familiar from other movies. Oh, and Jared Leto is trying way too hard as the Joker.

From then on, it’s a lot of punches, gunshots and explosions set to rocking guitar without any real context to the story. We have no idea what’s going on, but “Bohemian Rhapsody” makes it OK, because it’s great to see the song in a fresh context (I’m sure whoever made this trailer loved “Guardians of the Galaxy”). That said, even the voiceover set-up is a little too bluntly honest about what we really want from this movie, simply stating that the characters are going “somewhere really bad” to do “something” that will get them killed. Hey, at least it’s got a lot of fire and attitude.

Though the reality is that “Suicide Squad” probably won’t be different from any other comic book movie that comes out this year, the trailer still manages to feel exciting and cool. And who knows, maybe Robbie’s Harley Quinn alone will be worth the price of admission.